Vanquish - I dismissed it as being a Japanese pathetic Gears of War badass wannabe. But people kept praising it here on VGC and then I saw this argument here about its humour, on wether it was tongue in cheek or not, so I had to check it out and decide for myself. And it was awesome in every way imaginable - the humour, the style, the gameplay mechanics, the challenge.

Dante's Inferno - When announced it looked so exciting, building on a famous myth and with a setting in Hell of all places. Then reviews came (73% on Metacritic) and everyone said it was a poor man's God of War and the demo sucked, so I dismissed it. Much later I again came to think of the fact that it takes place in Hell, and even if it was a weak game I wanted to experience that theme, so I bought it. And it was fantastic. The gameplay was fun and the story presentation superb.

Dragon's Dogma (75% Meta) - None of the trailers and previews looked promising. The game had very bad hype and looked weak on every aspect. But then I saw this preview from Xbox magazine UK or something, who praised it as being original and addicting and blending elements even from Oblivion, so I made the decision to get it. And it was simply amazing. 100 fantastic hours. Easily my GOTY 2012 so far (although I haven't yet played Dishonored or ACIII).

Hunted: The Demon's Forge (61% Meta) - d21lewis kept on joking about how he often got caught by hype towards crap games, Hunted being one of them, and later he recommended it to me so I decided to try it out. And it didn't disappoint. I still have fond memories of its special atmosphere.

God Of War 3.

I nearly didnt play this due to not owning a ps3.

To be honest so far the best game on ps3 along with R&C.

The other games like KZ and Uncharted are highly overated imo.

Even better in co-op.  Remember, kids: don't drink the sleg!!

Agreed...on all points, actually.  Anyway, with God of War 3, I was pretty turned off by God of War 1 on the PS1. For all of its praise, I thought the game was pretty generic and below average.  The shitty PS3 demo didn't help things.  I kept hearing how good GoW3 was from people on VGChartz and one of my co-workers (whose opinion of good games is suspect.  WWE All-Stars?  Seriously!?).  Anyway, I saw GoW3 at a pawn shop for $10 and I grabbed it.  After a few weeks, I finally started playing it.  HOLY SHIT.  The game was awesome!  I even grabbed the GoW HD Collection and fell in love with GoW2. 

Still one of the highlights of the gen for me.

Skies of Arcadia

Legend of Zelda Windwaker

Elder Scrolls IV oblivion

Tales of Eternia

Metal Gear Solid 4 : I didn't play MGS4 nearly because of not knowing anything about the series; I got it because of lot of hype about its quality and loved it. I think it is the best or among the best on PS3.

Left 4 Dead : Never knew anything about it, got it on 360 one day randomly, one of the best mp co-operative game on the 360, so much fun.

Fallout : New Vegas : After playing fallout 3, I felt unhappy with the series. The whole game felt disappointing, the rpg elements didn't make sense, headshots didn't make sense, game felt difficult, story was stupid, gameplay was repetitive. After that experience most would never really purchase a sequel, especially if the sequel had reviews stating it is worse than the prequel or that only fans of fallout 3 would enjoy it. I found it for cheap and thought I should give it a try, after playing this gem, I went back to fallout 3 and played the way fallout games are supposed to be played; there is a certain way you have to play them to enjoy them. Fallout New Vegas's campaign is structured in such a way.

The Darkness : This was a random pickup too, just like left 4 dead and on 360 as well. One of the best fps stories and game overall on consoles.

Yakuza 3 : By the grace of the mighty demo, I found this piece of greatness. Fantastic game. I played the demo first time and didn't like it much at all. However for some reason I replayed the demo; instantly loving it.

morrowind and it's one of my favourite games of all time now.

dragon age origins (bought that edition with all extra content which came out for only half the price or something)

secret of mana which i only bought because i was in the city with my parents and my father gave me money to buy something and it's my number two of all time behind ocarina of time.

Have to say FF7.

Being a PC gamer since mid-eighties, apart from Videopac and some other obscure devices. I once borrowed the dustcovered Psx from my little brother just out of curiosity. It came with only three games. After half an hour of WipeOut i popped in FF7 completely oblivious to the franchise and gameplay. Best weeks of my life as a gamer.